In the dark over benefits of ABC

The letters (News & Mail, November 1) from G Bills and Trevor Pidgeon are valuable contributions to the debate on Elmbridge Council’s options in its present rethink of its recycling and waste collection policies. Both the letters covered similar ground to my own position, which I have just set out directly to Councillor Roy Taylor, who is heading the “task force” that is due to come up with recommendations this month. My particular concern is the obvious tilt in the council leadership and officers towards Alternative Bin Collections (ABC), essentially a 33% cut in collection frequency, which is somehow supposed to promote recycling. I am as much in the dark as Mr Pidgeon as to how ABC will bring that benefit about “at a stroke” or at all.But maybe ABC can, indeed, work that magic. Perhaps there are numbers the council could give us to to allay any suspicion that what ABC is really about is saving money.This plan will leave us to cart to the local tip — whatever that costs in extra carbon emissions — the refuse that the council will no longer pick up.The present lack of any meaningful background information on ABC, the council’s assumptions and the relevant arithmetic, make it impossible for us to take an informed view of its advantages and drawbacks. We are, after all, talking here of the one function that almost every council taxpayer, even the most apathetic, would see as Elmbridge’s most important priority — the efficient and speedy disposal of our rubbish.I have, therefore, put it to Cllr Taylor that no final decision on the adoption of ABC should be taken before we, the taxpayers, have been offered the chance to question and debate the ABC proposition at public meetings throughout the borough. I have referred him to a growing media interest in this issue and to the very angry scenes in some parts of the country where ABC has left streets with flies, rats and uncollected garbage.I hope this call for genuine public consultation will find wide support among News & Mail readers and that they will tell the council that they insist on it.Harold Lewis,Ashford Gardens,Cobham.